CCC&AOP Testimonials
Read testimonials from past participants of the CCC&AOP Program.
“I am very thankful for the opportunity to dig deeper into my own critical consciousness through this program. There is nothing else explicitly like this at Stanford, and it is sorely needed. I greatly appreciate the thoughtfulness and intentionality around the meetings, the curriculum and the group formation. It is amazing to have a safe space to interrogate our own beliefs and biases as well as learn from others who are further ahead in the process of eliminating racist and oppressive ideologies. As a woman of color, I find the space to be refreshing and sustaining in helping me to understand how I can uncover my own biases and oppressive beliefs as well as adding it to my toolkit for being able to speak to others in ways that are encouraging without being condemning.”
-Stephanie Robillard, PhD Candidate, Education
“Participating in the CCC has been extremely beneficial for my personal growth. I feel more informed on everything from my personal identity to positionality to systematic oppression to effective communication to available resources at Stanford and in literature. I'm far more self-aware, and now know frameworks and mindsets that I will take with me far beyond the reaches of CCC. I also got to know and love the members of my cohort and leadership. It is inspiring and eye opening to see the perspective, struggles, and life through the lens of each and every one of my peers.”
-Margaret Daly, PhD Candidate, Environmental Fluid Mechanics
“The CCC & AOP program provided me with communication strategies to discuss historical and contemporary oppressive infrastructures. Through course dialogue, I had the opportunity to form personal connections with people from diverse academic backgrounds. My experience has encouraged me to pursue more interdisciplinary collaborations in my research.”
-Sparkle Springfield, Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford Prevention Research Center
“This certificate feels like it has given a direction and context to my education that were previously absent in the proverbial ivory tower of Stanford. While I learned many skills necessary for leadership before this program, only now am I acquiring the sufficient social context to affect just and sustained change.”
-Stephen Galdi, PhD Candidate, Civil and Environmental Engineering
“The CCC&AOP program is the first time in my training in which the emphasis shifted from just enumerating the myriad of issues facing our society towards a targeted, sustainable set of actions. With amazing facilitation and a supportive cohort at my side, I have been empowered to grapple with topics that I previously felt loomed too large and unassailable. As I venture out into the world, there are constant opportunities to deploy the cycle of action and reflection (praxis) to dismantle the oppression so pervasive in our world.”
-Avery Krieger, PhD Candidate, Neuroscience
